Time Took Her
by happilyinsane13
Summary: Time laid his hand on the old man's shoulder and unflinchingly took away one of his hearts.


Time laid his unflinching hand on the old man and took away one of his hearts.

He knew it was time for her to go to The Library when he twirled out of the TARDIS and onto her front lawn (her beautiful lawn that she was so proud of simply having, even though it was a sea of weeds and wildflowers) and when she let him inside with a long kiss and the syncing of diaries. The two little blue books had been perfectly matched up. All of their adventures right up to the Byzantium were there amongst those aging pages. River clapped her hands with almost naïve delight, her beautiful curls bouncing up and down. His two hearts sank to the very soles of his shoes.

It would have come eventually, he told himself. But the Doctor had blissfully let it fade to the back of his mind as he and his wife ran across the universe.

_You__watch__us__run._

They had ran, across beautiful, treacherous galaxies and they had loved the whole way. Why did it have to end now?

So he swallowed, closed his book with a smile, and asked about her recent exploits. She told him about her expedition to The Library. It was in four months, and she was so excited to go to that dusty planet, which he knew was full of dark corners, with carnivorous shadows, skeletons, and… him. An old, young, him that didn't know how much he would come to love the woman who would save his life. How much he loved her, what he would do to that change her fate…

But it was a fixed point, and they both knew you couldn't mess with a fixed point. He smiled a bit unwillingly when he thought of it. He got married to a wonderful woman because she had defied a fixed point.

She looked at him, cocking her head and giving a coy smile.

"And what would you be smiling about sweetie?" She winked that devilish wink that sometimes still made him stutter and flush. "Nothing naughty I hope? Oh wait, that wouldn't be such a bad idea…"

So the Doctor let her pull him to her bedroom, let her to as she pleased. He loved her as if it was the last time, because it almost was. He held her close and called her name, trying to ingrain her just like this in his memory.

Three months, he told himself. In three months he would take her to that planet that he knew he might not be able to visit again for hundreds of years, or he would break.

So he took her on another adventure for good times sake. To the planet called Earth in the 21st Century. Their they faced the scary (but ultimately lovable) in-laws. They laughed over dinner and stories, relishing in the time they had. River sat in-between her parents for once, as the Doctor had insisted. After dessert Rory called the Doctor into the house, leaving the girls to gossip and giggle outside.

"You're trying too hard, and when you try too hard nothing ever comes of it," Rory said as they entered the bright kitchen. Rory began to fish around in the fridge for a beer, his back the Doctor.

"Be lucky Amy is distracted. She loves it when River comes to visit, she can hardly think of anything else."

The Doctor swallowed, and he knew he had no choice. The Last Centurion, of all people, needed to know.

"River is going to die in 4 months,"

Rory stopped all movement. His shoulders stiffened and his hand slipped on the beer it had grabbed. It smashed to the floor, spreading all over the tile. Rory paid no heed and the Doctor moved from foot to foot.

"_What?_"

"She will die Rory, your daughter, my-" he choked. "My wife, will die."

"Is it an illness? Cancer? You'd think they'd have a cure by her time! We can fix this, we-"

Rory was on his feet now, lightning fast, his hands gripping the Doctor's shoulders so hard that if the Doctor bruised easily, he was sure they would be black and blue within the hour.

"It's a fixed point in time Rory," the Doctor said, more sternly than he would life to. "We cannot, under any circumstances, change it."

"Yes we can," Rory said. "We've done it before!"

"And look what happened! All of time unraveled and happened all at once!"

"Do what you did! Get those tiny people too put a tessalecta in her place!"

"It doesn't work like that Rory, you know it doesn't. Your daughter isn't more important than the whole universe."

Both men ignored the vague sense of déjà vu.

"She is to me!" Rory yelled, and raised a fist to punch him, but the Doctor was quicker this time and raised his own fist and delivered a swift right hook. Rory fell to the floor, staring in utter shock at the man who did not use violence.

"She is to me too!" the Doctor roared. "Don't you ever insinuate that I don't love River more than the whole universe! Because I do! But I can't no matter how much I want to, make her more important than a universe filled with billions of more people, more lives more important than my own selfish wish!"

Tears were gathering in his eyes, stinging them, penetrating them until they fell down his cheeks. Through the blur of salty liquid he could barely make out that Rory was crying too. They were still for a few minutes, crying like that, before Rory whispered, such a soft caress of a whisper the Doctor barely heard,

"You were there when she died, weren't you?"

"Yes. The first time I met her… That's why I can't change it. She wouldn't let me. I wouldn't either."

"You're selfish,"

"I know, but Rory, if I saved her all of time would collapse, and you would have never had had her,"

Silence.

"How do I tell Amy?"

The Doctor sighed.

"I don't know."

Three months later he turned up on River's doorstep with a new haircut and a suit.

"Hello Sweetie," she said, grinning when he leaned in to kiss her softly.

"Come along, Doctor Song from the Clan of the Ponds, my most beautiful wife! And wear those red high heels! Today's a special occasion!" The Doctor exclaimed, twirling on his feet as he always does.

River laughed and did as she was told, the minute she turned around he watched her longingly.

When they arrived at the Singing Towers she gasped at its utter beauty. The tall, glistening white towers sang a tune as beautiful and haunting as any Ood's. As she pranced around the planet with it's deep blue-green grass and dark sky with constant aurora's dancing across it, the Doctor thought that she had never looked so gorgeous and it killed him.

They laid down in the grass and just listened for awhile, holding each other as they watched the brilliant lights flutter above them. As the towers sang a sorrowful tune, as if knowing what made him so distraught he began to sob, clutching River to his chest.

"My Love, what's wrong?" she asked over and over, but he would not tell her. He just wept harder, clutching to her desperately.

He shoved his sonic screwdriver into her hands.

"Take it," he whispered. "You'll need it."

She gazed at him questioningly and he tried to grin.

"Spoilers," he managed before a fresh wave of sobs wracked his body.

He made love to her that night, gripping her to him, kissing her flesh as if trying to imprint the taste of her on his tongue. It was desperate, passionate, and full of so much raw emotion that almost couldn't take it.

He dropped her off, and as he watched her prance into her house with her wildflower lawn, and in those red high heels, he knew he couldn't leave it like this.

The TARDIS whirred into existence in that god-forsaken library. He stepped out and saw his younger self cuffed a pole, knocked unconscious. Looking over he saw River making adjustments.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed. "You know very well there are vashta narada lurking about and you could wake up any moment now!"

"You're right," he said weakly. "In about three minutes."

There was a silence for the longest half a second in the universe.

"You knew," she started but he cut her off.

"I don't want you to die," he said.

She smiled bitterly.

"We both know fixed point can't be re-written."

"You didn't let me finish," he said fiercely.

She looked up at him in shock.

"I don't want you to die without knowing you are loved. By Rory, Amy, by probably a good male population of the whole bloody universe, but absolutely by no one, no one, no one, _no__one_ more than me."

With that he kissed her goodbye, and Time took her like he knew it would.


End file.
